STUDIO THE PRODUCERS: PHIL SPECTOR


MARTIN JERRAM examines the career of a controversial 1960’s producing legend whose non-musical exploits risk overshadowing his fantastic work... Phil Spector.


very little space, light, shade or dynamic range but Spector’s uncompromising techniques created a massive sonic landscape that was almost biblical compared to the twee contemporary pop music of the day!


Phil Spector with The Ronettes in his 1960s heyday.


Born in 1940, Phil Spector was by industry terms only a kid when he produced his fi rst number one record. The classic Doo Wop, To Know Him Is To Love Him, written and produced by Spector and performed by his school band The Teddy Bears with money they scraped together to buy two hours in a studio, sold in excess of 1,000,000 copies by the end of 1958. The song writing duo of Leiber and Stoller, most famous for writing hits for Elvis Presley, gave Spector his big break when they recommended that he produce their latest composition, Corrina, Corrina, which scored a US Top Ten hit in 1960 for the singer Ray (Tell Laura I love Her) Peterson. This early success led more or less directly to Spector launching his own record label, Philles, and by 1963 he had two massive hits under his belt: He’s A Rebel by The Crystals and Be My Baby by The Ronettes. Both tracks demonstrated Spector’s unique production style - the now legendary ‘Wall of Sound’. Spector’s idea was to fi ll any given song with as much sonic information as possible. Most of Spector’s recordings contain


Building the wall There are many facets that combine to make up the Wall of Sound, not the least of which was the huge number of musicians employed on the sessions. Spector realised that doubling and even trebling the instruments made things sound thicker as the various microscopic tuning and timing issues acted to create one enormous virtual chorus pedal. It was not unusual for a Phil Spector session to feature (in addition to medium sized string and brass sections) six guitars, four pianos (often with more


must have had a torrid time trying to reign-in this lush complex sound down onto a couple of tracks but somehow he managed it. Of course with all these instruments involved most of these songs needed some pretty serious arrangements and Spector mostly relied on another trusted ally, Jack Nitzsche, with top song writers like Carol King, Barry Mann and Gerry Goffi n also queuing up to offer their services.


A Righteous Sound... Insisting that all his Wall of Sound recordings remained strictly in Mono, Spector claimed that stereo afforded the consumer too much opportunity to change the overall sound that he’d created. The Righteous Brothers’ mega-


hits, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling and Unchained Melody defi ne the Wall of Sound whilst an


Phil Spector’s dramatic productions redefined the sound of pop music during the early 1960s


than four players), two electric basses, one string bass and fi fteen percussionists. However, as a rule Spector used only one drummer, invariably the session legend Hal Blaine who was the unoffi cial leader of the self proclaimed bunch of Los Angeles session stars known as ‘The Wrecking Crew’. So called because almost overnight these talented but scruffy young players ousted the blue tie and blazer old guard of the session world and were accused of ‘wrecking’ the business! Another key ingredient in the


Wall of Sound was the LA studio Goldstar, whose reverb chambers were said to be the best in the business. Goldstar was not a large studio and with all those musicians crammed in the unavoidable leakage between microphones meant that engineer Larry Levine


equally iconic Spector recording, Ike and Tina Turner classic, River Deep, Mountain High also proved to be a turning point for Spector. This dramatic, almost Wagnerian production was Spector’s greatest achievement to date with a great vocal from Tina Turner and a stellar performance from the Wrecking Crew. Unfortunately, the American public didn’t agree and in the US at least, River Deep, Mountain High proved to be a fl op, barely scraping


Suggested Listening •


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the Top 100. It was a different story in Europe but as far as Spector was concerned, the game was up and the nation’s love affair with the Wall of Sound was over. As the 1970s dawned Spector enjoyed a renaissance of sorts when he ended up mixing the Beatles fi nal LP, Let It Be and he went on to produce solo albums by both John Lennon and George Harrison. Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album defi nitely shows elements of an updated Wall of Sound production compared to Lennon’s more subdued offerings. Lennon nevertheless relied heavily on Spector during the early ‘70’s until things turned sour in 1975 when the increasingly eccentric and hard drinking producer stole the master tapes of Lennon’s upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll album and tried to hold them to ransom! After this episode Spector attempted a few comebacks, even working with Punk legends The Ramones; however he was never able to relive the glory days of the early 1960’s and this remarkable man’s volatile nature fi nally caught up with him in 2009 when he was convicted of second degree murder in the US and sentenced to 19 years to life. PM


A rough tough east London


boy, Martin Jerram writes and records music in his Suffolk-based studio, masterminding the career of psychedlic pop outfi t Deep Wilson. www.deepwilson.com


River Deep Mountain High – Ike & Tina Turner A Christmas Gift for You – Phil Spector


Denny Tedesco’s fantastic documentary The Wrecking Crew


offers an insight into the lives of the who worked with Spector during the height of his powers.


34 pickup


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